FENNEL-SPICED SEMOLINA CAKE WITH YOGURT

PREP TIME 15 MINS | 35 MINS COOKING PLUS DRAINING | SERVES 8-10

Fennel’s aromatic spice is paired with orange and lemon peel in this easy-to-prepare cake that’s perfect for tea-time.

INGREDIENTS

220g softened butter

200g caster sugar

Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange

4 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

200g fine semolina

150g almond meal

100g finely chopped roasted almonds, plus extra to serve

125ml (½ cup) buttermilk

3 tsp roasted fennel seeds, ground

Finely grated orange rind, to serve Sweetened yogurt

300g thick natural yogurt

100g pure icing sugar, sifted Lemon syrup

3 pieces of lemon rind, removed with a peeler

80g caster sugar

METHOD

For sweetened yogurt, place yoghurt in a muslin-lined sieve over a bowl and refrigerate overnight to drain. Discard liquid. Combine with sugar until smooth and refrigerate until needed.

Preheat oven to 170°C. Butter a 22cm cake tin and line with baking paper. Beat butter, sugar and citrus rinds in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (8-10 minutes).

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add baking powder, semolina, almond meal, almonds, citrus juice, buttermilk, fennel seed and a pinch of salt and mix to just combine. Spoon into tin and bake until cake is golden and a skewer inserted withdraws clean (35 minutes).

For lemon syrup, combine ingredients with 80ml water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Pierce cake all over with a skewer, then drizzle with syrup and set aside to cool (1-2 hours).

Scatter cake with extra nuts and orange rind and serve with sweet yogurt.